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Hammock Stand Suggestions

Anyone have a good suggestion on how to make a couple collapsible hammock stands? Trying to find a decent spot to hang a hammock at family campsites is tough sometimes. I've never had this issue while out backpacking.........lol

It would be nice if I could make something to throw in my trunk, or strap to the roof of my car. Thanks.

It would be great if I could make a portable stand, which I could hang two hammocks on. I could hang one hammock on both uprights on the stand, then hang a second by using one upright on the stand and one tree. That would be idea.

i'm sure you've already looked at rick's hammock standhttp://www.imrisk.com/hammockstand/hammockstand.htm
and it's probably bigger than what you had in mind.
it would be nice to have something small enough to throw in the trunk. and it would also be nice to have one that can be put up & taken down more quickly.
of course i'm thinking home made. some of the store bought ones would probably fit the bill, but it would be nice to have a simple DIY design.

just a thought... i believe it may have been mentioned by some one on the yahoo hammockcamping group about using a rigid top pole that the hammock would be hung from. this way, the top pole could be laid on top of supports that could be any thing from a truck bed to a sturdy home made tripod.
the supports wouldn't need to hold the inward pulling force of the hammock because the pole would be doing that.
the supports would just need to be able to deal w/ the rocking motion.
a top rail for a chain link fence would serve well for the top pole & could be taken apart into two sections. ...tim

I attempted to make an imrisk today with treated lumber. I went to Home Depot to purchase the supplies, and discovered it was too expensive. Just the lumber and screws was over $25. The galvanized pipe was $25 for 10'. Building supplies have really gotten expensive over the last few years.

I am thinking I might be able to use a 2x6 instead of the pipe for the top of the stand. Similar to how the imrisk has the 2x4, but turn it in the vertical direction. Any thoughts???

“Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall when the wise are banished from the public councils because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.” ~Judge Joseph Story

Ahhhh, now there is something I did not think of. I could probably get a large enough piece down the street from my house. Though bamboo is not native in Virginia, I see patches of it all over the place. There is a nice one in the woods about 1/2 of a mile from my house. Hmmm, it might be better to buy some from the store though........lol

I had built a stand( a variation of Risk's with no center ground brace) because my only trees were a little to far apart and to not quite large enough not to flex. I had almost no rope left over after the HH lashing to the huggers. So I had trouble sagging to close to ( or touching) the ground due to the rope being almost fully extended PLUS some tree flex. But I have stopped using my stand and started using Risk's one pole trick. Except I use 2 2x4s, one for each end. The rope goes OVER ( or, thru a drilled hole in ) the 2x4 fairly close to the hammock, and then DOWN to a tree hugger only a few feet above the ground, where the tree is a bit thicker. I put some cloth between the rope and 2x4, to cut down on any abrasion.

BINGO! ZERO noticeable sag of the hammock between the 2x4s, and NO tree flex according to observers. Essentially, the hammock stays about the height I hang it when I get in it. This works great! I flopped around like a fish out of water for testing. It was very stable. I wish weight would allow me to backpack with a couple of 6ft 2x4s! Although, somewhere I have seen a manufacturers, or somebodies, website, where they were demonstrating using a branch in the woods for the same purpose. But I have forgot who it was and can not find it.

For the engineers here, I wonder what kind of load is applied to the tree with the rope coming DOWNWARD from the 2x4 at about a 45* angle? Compared to the normal tree attachment, more load or less load? If I set it up this week, I'll try to take and post some pics. My next experiment is going to be to use this technique with an extension rope for a really long hang between currently unusable trees( way to far apart for the stock HH or Speer).
Bill

That looks very interesting. I realize you have tested it, but I am a skeptic so I will play around with it this week. I have two 25' poly straps, without loops in the ends. I will see if I can figure out how to get them to work. However, I might have to sew loops in them. EEk That is a topic for a different post...............lol

However, I might have to sew loops in them. EEk That is a topic for a different post...............lol

Have a nearby upholstery shop? The only sewing machine I have access to wouldn't sew webbing, so I took my straps to the closest upholstery shop where they sewed it on the spot while I waited. They only charged $3.

“I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.” - Cormac McCarthy

That looks very interesting. I realize you have tested it, but I am a skeptic so I will play around with it this week. I have two 25' poly straps, without loops in the ends. I will see if I can figure out how to get them to work. However, I might have to sew loops in them. EEk That is a topic for a different post...............lol

You might try it first with normal length ropes/webbing. If you have trees or posts or concrete blocks or roots- whatever, something close enough to run the rope first to the 2x4 then down to whatever will be strong enough to hold. Risk says stakes won't work. I have hopes for it working OK with longer ropes. Which wouldn't work at all for me without the 2x4s within a few feet of the hammock, there would be way too much sag unless you can tie way high on the tree (experience has shown).